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Roleplay:Alex and Karait's Struggles
This is a page for Needlemouse and Wolf9400 to RP in. No one else is allowed in. The rules: 1. No explicit content. 2. No profanity (words like "crap" are allowed, though.) Children Alex comes in to talk to Karait. Karait, who had been asleep after a nice dustbath, raised his head and looked at her. "Hello, my love," he says in his usual nice way. "I went to visit Lust the other day, we had a nice talk," she says nicely. "Oh, you talked to Brahm's wife," says Karait. "How was it?" "She was nice. She tried to talk me into having kids with you." Karait blushed. "Why's that?" he asked, "I mean, if you want kids, I'm totally okay with that". "Well, I'm still not sure." "Well, when the day comes when you do wanna have children, you just tell me." Karait says, smiling pleasantly. "Can I ask what having kids will be like? I know you haven't had any but you probably have had some experience with your brothers." "Well," Karait begins, "for starters, they would begin as eggs you'd lay, since you are half-naga, and therefore, half-snake. Then you'd have to stay home and keep the eggs warm, and I'd go bring you food." "How many do you think I would have?" "Just a guess, but probably around 5, maybe 6," Karait answered, scratching his hood. She breathes a sigh of relief. "Lust told me that since I was part naga, I'd probably have a whole brood." "Well, she and Brahm mated frequently to the point that they had a whole brood. If we did it once for children, we'd probably get the 5-6 children. If we mated frequently for children, however, we'd probably wind up with a brood," explained Karait. "She totally overexaggerated it," Alex almost laughs. "She said I'd have around 100 kids at once." "100 children?!" Karait's eyes roll back into his head and he falls backwards. "They mated more times than I thought..." he gets back up. "No, they only had 20...are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine; it's just the prospect of 100 children is ludicrous. 20 sounds right for Brahm and Lust." "Anyway, so I'm kind of worried about how I'm going to raise the kids after they're born." "Well, I'd be there to help you," Karait says. "Lust also told me I'd have to breast feed them." "Well, yes, there's that..." "Five kids at once..." she laughs a little uneasily. "Well, you'd have to feed one child at a time..." Karait says. "I'm just worried that I'm not going to love all my kids the same..." she sighs. "I'm going to be such a bad parent..." "No you won't," Karait replies, "you are the greatest woman I could ever call my wife; you'll do fine." "Aww...thank you," she says appreciatively. (I'm kind of wanting to continue our Odyssey TP, you know, the whole miasma incident then Alex thought Karait died and she you know that TP. No offense.) (We could do that, but I have a few questions; will we go on with them having children, or hold off on that for a while?) (We will go on with that at another date.) (Ah, okay. Well, in light of that, let's do the Odyssey one) Miasma Karait sat coiled in the cave, crying alone before his wife's corpse. She wakes up in the Underworld. She starts crying too. I thought my husband was gone, and now I've gone and left him tortured too... she thinks regretfully. Karait's sorrow then quickly turned to rage. But he wasn't mad at his wife; he was mad at himself. "KARAIT, YOU IDIOT!" he shrieked, his voice echoing through the caves, "YOU MADE YOUR WIFE KILL HERSELF! YOU STUPID, DISGUSTING, LECHEROUS, WORM!" As he yelled, he began to bash his head into a wall of the cave, causing it to shake, as if an earthquake was occurring. She starts slithering about, afraid (probably with good reason) that demons will come after her to attack and either kill her again or put her in a harem. She wants neither. Karait, eventually regaining his senses, realized what he had to do. He went farther down the cave, eventually plunging into pitch black darkness. In the dark, he came across a pool. He then began to perform a serpentine dance before it. Meanwhile, in the Underworld, a demon resembling a diamondback rattlesnake came across Alex, looking at her with lecherous intent in his face. "Well, well, well..." he said in an oily voice, "what have we here?... It's a real cutie..." She darts away, going a random direction, which ends up happening to be the exact direction toward Kaliya's old miasma pool. The pool was dried up, the area looking scorched. The demon caught up to Alex. "Trying to hide in the pool, sweetie? Sorry, but it's gone; dried up after Kaliya disappeared. Now quit resisting..." "I killed Kaliya," she threatens. She's only interested in saving her own life. The demon, not caring, grabs her arm. Then, they hear a roar, which sounds almost like Karait's own voice. "What the-" the demon begins. She uses this distraction to do the only logical thing: break away and slither far enough away for what she assumes is probably about to be an attack. A figure, which resembled a cobra, strikes the demon, and they begin fighting a bloody, gory fight. She's almost totally sure it's Karait, and jumps in to help him fight this demon off. It turns out it is, and he rips out the throat of the demon, which then dies. "Karait," she says, hugging him. "I'm so sorry..." "You're fine," he said. "Now I'm going to get you out of here." "How?" She appreciates his coming to save her, but... "You can't bring me back from the dead..." (Maybe if they can't come back they can, like, become the king and queen of the underworld. lol) (XD) "When I bring you back to the real world, I'll be carrying your soul, which I will then put back into your body." "Are there no bonds keeping me here?" she asks skeptically. "And besides, I don't think I'm going to live very long with a hole in my heart..." "You'll take about a month to recover, but your heart wound will close up, because that's where I'm putting your soul back in." he says. She looks away as a thought strikes her. "Karait...If I'm here...does that make me a demon?" "No; you took your own life, so therefore, your soul came here." (Underworld = Hell in the naga dimension. Except there really isn't eternal torture; it's more like eternal struggle/unrest.) She sighs. "I'm so sorry...let's go home..." Karait then goes back to the place he came from with Alex in his arms. They returned to the cave where Karait was in the pool. "I'm scared..." she says. Karait smiled reassuringly. "You'll be okay..." he then came to her corpse and inserted her soul back into her body through the wound, which then closed up upon insertion. It still causes pain all the same, and she cries out in pain and fear. Karait began to try to calm her down. "It hurts, Karait..." she cries quietly. "It hurts now, but you'll feel better soon," Karait whispers, "I'll be with you 24/7 this time, so you won't get up in your sleep again..." "I got up in my sleep?" "Yes; you kept getting deadly nightshade, making you have nightmares..." "Why would I do that?" she asks, fearing she already knows the answer. "A demon was haunting you," Karait answers, "and after you thought I died, the demon must have left you, having thought that he had caused the pain he wanted to cause." "Is nightshade...addictive?" she says fearfully. "No; it's actually very bitter," he answers, "that's why no one usually eats it willingly." (Last time, Brahm, Indra, and Karait had a talk behind her back about how nightshade is incredibly addictive. Plus, I think everyone still thinks Karait's dead) She breathes a sigh of relief. (I remember the thing with them believing he's dead, but I'm a little fuzzy on the addicting part.) "Now let's return home and get you to bed." Karait then slithers out of the cave and back home, where Brahm and Indra are still praying. (I remember it: in fact, I have it saved on my desktop. So maybe we just say he's lying to protect her) She's finding it hard to slither on her own due to the pain so she holds his arm for support. Brahm and Indra hear and look in, and they yell in surprise. "Hi, fellas." says Karait. "DEMON!" shrieks Indra. "LEAVE US!" Karait looks unamused. "Guys, calm down; it's the real me." And he explained. Alex waits weakly for him to say something. After hearing Karait's story, they then proceeded to take Alex upstairs and they put her to bed, with Karait following. "Thank you..." she says before passing out, then turning as pale as a sheet in her sleep. (She should wake up now, but she's now in her own world (as they decided she needed better medical attention), so she will be blind) She wakes up to no sight. "Uhhh, Karait? Why can't I see?" "We're back in your world, now. Indra suggested we bring you here for better medical attention for your blood loss." answers Karait. "Are we in a hospital?" she asks quietly. "Yes," Karait replies, "you're hooked up to an IV." The doctor walks in, and Karait turns to him. "How is she going to be?" Karait asks. "Well, she seems to be making a recovery..." he says. Karait then grabs him by his scrubs and brings him to his face. "Look here, PAL. I don't care what it takes to get her back to normal; I don't care if you have to kill the prime minister. But if she's not well by the end of this month, I'll have you launched out the window. GOT IT?" The doctor squeaks out a yes, and after Karait sets him down, the doctor runs out of the room. Karait then turns back to Alex. "Karait..." she says. "There's no reason for that...I can hear him right now, you scared him to death..." "Sorry," he replies, "I'm just wanting you to get better." He then reaches over and grabs a plate. "I got you some food, though." he says, and he takes the fork and stabs a piece of ham on the plate. "Open up," says Karait. "Ham?" she says, opening wide. "Mmhm," he answers, and he begins feeding her. She eats happily. "Thank you." "You're welcome," Karait answers. She starts to get a bit of a fever. "Time for your medicine," he says, and he pours it into a spoon. "Open up, again." She opens her mouth, and she thinks about nightshade again. Doesn't say anything about it. Karait pour it into her mouth. She swallows, and closes her eyes with a shiver. "It isn't medicine from the naga dimension; it's from this dimension," Karait says. "I figured..." she says. "Are you sure nightshade isn't addictive?" "Only a tiny bit," Karait says. "And don't worry; we burnt all of it." A thought occurs. "Honey, you wouldn't have jumped out the window if you didn't think I was addicted..." she says, quite scared. "I thought you had betrayed me, as you seemed very adamant in wanting to devour it. And it wasn't suicide. I went outside to cry, but I left too quick, and conked my head on the pavement." "I just can't get my mind off it...I don't know what's wrong with me..." "You're having a tiny bit of withdrawal," Karait says. "You should be fine after a while, though, as a long timespan between devouring gradually gets rid of the addiction. And I'm here to help you." "And addiction to nightshade on top of that I had miasma?" She's almost certainly sure those wouldn't mix at all. "The miasma is gone, now. A demon was haunting you and pushing you to get the nightshade so it could manipulate the hallucination dreams you'd get." "Do you know who?" "I get the feeling it was the last of Kaliya's spirit. And it disappeared after seeing it had caused us the worse pain we've ever felt thus far." "If it was Kaliya, he could've still had the miasma and been putting it in me. And, by the way, Indra and Brahm purged him. He didn't go willingly." "Oh... maybe an underling of Kaliya..." says Karait, starting to go into deep thought. "I'm just worried..." "Wait, I think I have it. That demon who tried to take you, did he have a mark like Kaliya's?" She nods. "I think I have it," Karait says. "It was one of Kaliya's underlings, that one in particular, deciding to move in on you after his vicious master's death." "Oh great...he has underlings?" "Well, it seems he had only one still around, because I had seen some of the other ones in the past, and they were always eager to clear out; those ones departed as soon as he died, but one took a shine to you and stayed behind." "Are we sure he's gone?" "I'm sure of it; I ripped his throat out, and you witnessed it." She suddenly gets sick and throws up. Karait calls in the nurse, and some custodians clean up the mess while the nurse gets Alex situated in the bed, and sets a several-liter bottle of Sprite on the table next to Karait, instructing him to give it to her when her stomach feels upset next. The nurse and the custodian then leave. "Ugh...I think this is definitely withdrawal." "Most likely," Karait says. "And next time you get sick, tell me. I've got a bucket right here." He then produces a bucket and puts it next to Alex. About six minutes later, she grabs the bucket and throws up in it. "Ughh..." is the only thing she gets to say before throwing up again. After she throws up, Karait pours Alex a cup of Sprite and has her drink it. (Oh, hey, when you get the time, read this: http://sonicfanon.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Needlemouse/A_small_return_and_a_review ) She starts getting a headache, too. Karait gives her some painkillers, desperate to get her healthy again. She passes out from the painkillers. She's not very okay. Karait then begins praying for Alex to be healing. She wakes a few hours later with an intense headache and vomits almost immediately. Karait manages to get the bucket in the direction of the vomit, so it lands in said bucket. As the doctor walks in, above, the spirits of Karait's long dead parents Rama and Sita watch them. "Hmm..." says Rama, "I don't like this at all... should we help her, my love?... Karait would be devastated if she died again." "Let's keep an eye on her, and if she gets too much worse, let's help her." Sita says. Alex throws up repeatedly. "Okay then," says Rama, resuming his vigil. Meanwhile, Karait sits by Alex's side, talking to the doctor. "It seems that her condition is worsening. Wait, before you kill me, Mr. Karait, we've decided to put her on fluids until she stops vomiting." "Okay, fine," Karait says, "but if her IV skips one beat, I'll be very angry." She's not getting better, but she's not getting worse either. Karait stays with her, keeping the bucket by her, as well as the Sprite and medicines. "Ugh...I feel horrible..." Karait, not quite sure what to do, looks at her nervously. She throws up again. "Kaliya must have done a real number on me..." "Yes. And it seems he tried to do his worst." "This is unbearable..." "All we can do is hope it will get better." "Ugh...I just want to go home and not be sick..." she groans, falling asleep. Karait sadly lowers his hood. A week goes by with very little improvement. Karait, very tired from several days without sleep, looking more dead than alive, continued to sit by the bed, continually praying, and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "Karait...please go to sleep..." she says. "I know you're worried, but your health matters to me too." "H-how can I?..." Karait says, "I'm worried I'll wake up and you'll be dead..." "And I'm worried you'll be dead when I wake up too, because you won't sleep...have you eaten?" "Some..." Karait says weakly. (Wolf, I have to go now; we'll resume, tomorrow.) "You need to eat...and get some sleep...I'll be fine..." "Okay then... if you insist..." Karait then ate some food the nurse brought in for him and Alex to eat, and coiled up on the chair, and began to sleep. As he slept, he seemed to be crying. She reaches over painfully, and wipes the tears from his eyes. She lies back down, and goes to sleep herself. She starts having a nightmare in her sleep. After an hour of sleep, Karait woke up. She's obviously having a nightmare, as she tosses and turns occasionally. "Alex! Wake up! You're dreaming!" She panics in her sleep. Karait, using powers akin to his hypnosis, began to tell her "Wake up, my love." She blinks awake, still in a panic for a moment. "You were having a nightmare," Karait says. "It was so real..." she says, sounding horrified. "I was trapped in the underworld, I was raped, and when I finally escaped another demon captured me, but you were the other demon," she says, then breaks down crying. Karait, now scared, tries to comfort her. She starts crying in his shoulder, horrified. "Oh, my love..." says Karait, holding her in his arms. "Is the Underworld where I'm going to go when I die...?" "Not anymore; I saved you from that fate..." (Nice picture) "Then where?" "Heaven," says Karait, remembering how people saved from the Underworld would go to Heaven to be judged. (Thanx) "What's heaven like?" she asks. "I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure if Rama and Sita were here with us now, they'd tell us". Sita smiles to her husband. "Should we tell them?" Alex looks Karait in the eyes lovingly. "What do you think it's like?" "I guess we could, my love." says Rama. Karait smiles pleasantly. "I think it would be wonderful, like staying in a swanky, five-star hotel." "It's much better than that," says Sita, appearing before them with Rama. "It's the greatest paradise of all." "Yes," says Rama. "Mom?... Dad?..." Karait asks in awe. She smiles. Alex is surprised to see them, perhaps just as much as Karait. "W-w-why are you here?..." Karait asks. "We've been watching over you," Rama answers. "Making sure you don't get yourself into any trouble," adds Sita. Karait was in disbelief, as he continued to look on in awe. Sita moves forward and hugs her son. "We want you to be safe..." "Oh, mother..." Karait says, a tear streams down his face. "Everything is going to be alright with you two..." she says. "And you'll always be together." Rama nods affirmatively. "Thank you..." says Alex with a little smile... Karait then kisses Alex on the cheek. Alex hugs her husband gratefully. Sita smiles at her son. "We'll always watch over you." "Indeed we will," says Rama, and he begins to ascend with his wife. "Good-bye, and thank you..." says Alex appreciateively. "Good-bye, Alexandra." says Sita with a smile. "Good-bye, son." Karait squeaks out a "goodbye", and Rama disappears with Sita. Then, Karait notices he doesn't feel so tired and hungry anymore. Alex is still no less sick, but her fear is gone. Up in Heaven, Rama says to his wife: "Soon, Alex will be feeling better." "Yes, she will. I'm just a little worried about what kind of better." Back down below, Karait was holding Alex in his arms. She smiles at him. "I love you, Karait." "I love you too, Alex," he answers. She lays back down, quite sickly. Karait coils up beside the bed dutifully. She goes back to sleep, meeting another, even more horrifying nightmare. Karait, awake this time, takes a look into her mind to see what is going on. She's in an insane Underworld where everyone's out to get her. Karait begins to manipulate Alex's dream, and the demons begin dying without any clear reason. The remaining demons collect power from their fallen comrades. Karait, angered now, strikes down the remaining demons, and he begins to bite his lip in determination. One is left. An enormous, horrifying demon, who has defied Karait's attempts to kill him and is now being merciless to Alex. He backs her up to the miasma pool, and with nowhere else to go, she dives in. The mental block that prevented Karait from losing his temper finally disappeared, and he enters the dream, as he sprouts two more heads, looking much like his brother's super form known as "Maharajah Brahma". He dives in after Alex. (Now Karait is homicidal and out for blood.) Hundreds of demons appear out of the air in the dream and grab Karait by the tail, yanking him out of the pool. Alex, meanwhile, is hallucinating voices and anger related to Kaliya. She's losing it. Karait slays them all, speaking in dark tongues. The only telligible speech that leaves his mouth is "leave us", as he continues on to the pool, his two heads making unholy sounds. She loses it completely. She starts mutating into what will become a lot like what Kaliya was in the Underworld: an unholy large miasma demon. (I gotta go now, Wolf; resume tomorrow) With this, Karait's conscience disappears, he takes off after Alex, his rage burning from within like a horrible ulcer, his heart filled with anger and sadness, and his mind surging with bloody murder. (Now that Karait's worst nightmare has come true, he's lost his sanity. The only thing that can stop him now would be a divine intervention.) Something grabs his tail and pulls. He hears his mother's voice, "It's just a dream, Karait! She'll be okay!" Karait's conscience returns, and he turns to see what grabbed him. It's, quite obviously, his mother, trying to save him from driving himself nuts. "But this seems so real," Karait protests. "It's not," she says. "Notice how the miasma is having no side effects on you." Karait suddenly takes note how the miasma isn't fouling up the air, stinging him, or driving him mad; it feels more like water than anything else. "You're right... I just thought-" "You need to do nothing more than wake her up," she says. Meanwhile, Alex is reacting to the miasma the way she would to normal miasma, being shocked, stung, and otherwise hurt by it, but due to her previous exposure, her body is adapting. Karait exits the dream in a way that makes it seem like he died; he disappears in the miasma pool, and returns to the real world, and he observes Alex. Slowly, the miasma starts morphing her into the monster Kaliya was in the underworld. A horrifying, multi-headed, miasma breathing demon. Karait shakes her, telling her to wake up. She blinks awake, and for a split second her face is in a angry snarl until she realizes where she is. "Karait?" Karait, who at this point had returned to his normal self, looks at her and smiles pleasantly. "You rang?" "I had the most horrible dream..." Karait's smile fades away. "I observed what happened," he admits. "I'm sorry..." she says, believeing it's in some way her fault. "Oh, you've done nothing wrong..." Karait says, putting his arms around Alex. "Are all withdrawals this bad?" she asks, believeing she knows the answer. "Not usually," Karait says, "and that's what worries me. We may need Brahm to assist with this." "I'm scared...What's going to--" She suddenly stops talking and pales. "Bucket." Karait grabs the bucket and brings it over. Just in time, as she leans over and throws up in it. Karait then summons Brahm. "Hello, Brahm..." she says weakly. Brahm says nothing as his tongue flicks in and out at Alex, checking for demons. Surprisingly, there are none. "She's clean of evil spirits," Brahm finally says. "Then what's wrong?" she asks. "It seems to be illness. But it isn't terminal." "It just doesn't seem normal to me..." "Well, you did just come back from the dead," says a voice. It's Indra, slithering into the room. "Hi Indra..." she says. "I just don't think that's it..." Her instinct is telling her that they're wrong. "Well what else could it be, then?" says Indra. "You've been saved from the Underworld, so you won't go back to it." "I don't know," she responds. "I just have this feeling like something else is the reason..." Brahm checks her medication and food. "No nightshade," he announces. She sighs. Her instincts aren't relieved in the slightest. Brahm, Indra, and Karait gather around near the window of Alex's hospital room, whispering quietly to each other, Karait sounds audibly worried. (What is it that's doing this to Alex?) (A patch of nightshade that she sewed into her neck while possessed, under the fur, that's seeping through into her throat. the fact that she's not being directly exposed is giving withdrawal symptoms but the minimal exposure is enough to give her horrid nightmares.) This congregation in the corner is making Alex worried. As they talk, Brahm suddenly seizes up, and Karait and Indra move back in shock. Brahm turns to Alex, his eyes glowing a gold color. He spreads his hood and his tongue flits in and out. She's surprised and shocked. "Brahm?" she asks incredulously. Brahm's tongue reaches her neck, and he then stops. "She's got something on her neck," he says. "It's sewn in there." She has a pretty good idea of what it might be, but keeps her mouth shut. Indra comes up, and very carefully inspects what's there. "Someone has attached nightshade to her," he says. "But it was no ordinary creature; this is the work of a demon." "Can you get it out?" Indra says nothing and unsheathes one claw, and very carefully severs the threads binding the nightshade to her neck, causing the plant matter to fall off, and the threads to wither and disappears. She breathes a sigh of relief as it comes off. "Thank you so much..." "You're welcome," says Indra as he and Brahm then back off for Karait to come see his wife. She hugs Karait tightly. Karait hugs back, kissing her on the cheek. She kisses back. "I'm so relieved." "So am I, my love..." he says. The bad news, was that now the real withdrawal symptoms start. About to say something loving to her husband, she instead turns and throws up repeatedly into the bucket. "Let the withdrawal begin," says Brahm, slipping out of the room with Indra. She starts breaking into a fever, and throwing up until she had nothing left to throw up, and then some. "Hey, Karait, I think I might be addicted to nightshade," she says as a joke. But she was right. "You are," he says, "and I'm not letting you out of my sight." And he gives her some medicine, checking it first for nightshade. Her heart is telling her that this is out of love, but her addicted and withdrawn brain doesn't like what Karait just said. She manages to take the medicine without argument. With that, several weeks pass, and Karait stays by Alex's side, occasionally inspecting her to see if the demons put nightshade anywhere else, checking her medicine and food for nightshade, and keeping watch over her by night. She rarely sleeps, but with more time, gets more sleep. Her brain is telling her she's dying for nightshade, but she's trying to fight it. Eventually... "Karait...I don't know if I can do this..." "Yes, you can," says Karait, "I have faith." For the millionth time, she throws up. "This is too hard..." she says quietly. "It's always hard, but it gets better. The same thing happened to my distant cousin, Krishna. He got addicted to nightshade, and after we intervened, he had withdrawal. He vomited, and swore he was going to die. But after a month had gone by, he managed to come out of it, victoriously." She shudders. Suddenly she asks a difficult question. "Karait, why does everyone hate us?" "No one hates us," he answers. "Kaliya hated me, because he hated Rama; Kaliya's father, Ravana, longed for Sita, and he and Rama fought over her. When Ravana died after the fight deciding who would win Sita's love, Kaliya vowed vengeance upon Rama's children. "It seems to me like Kaliya hates me more than any of you..." "He saw you as Sita, and he saw me as Rama, and decided he would finish what Ravana started." "So he was lusting for me?" "Yes; and when we killed him, his spirit decided that if he couldn't have you in this world, he'd have you in the next." "Are you sure a spirit doesn't...linger in the Underworld when you kill it?" "After something is destroyed in the Underworld, it has been declared a "failure", and is then imprisoned in a place of the Underworld called Tartarus, a very gloomy area where all failure demons and evil spirits are kept, never to be released again. My guess is that Kaliya is currently in Tartarus, writhing like a worm." "Or thriving..." she says doubtfully. "Trust me, Alex; once a creature has been confined to Tartarus, there's no way out." "Doesn't mean they can't thrive there..." she says, fully convinced that Kaliya would've found a way to do so. "Well, the important thing is that Kaliya will never bother us again," Karait says. "I'll ask Indra about what goes on in Tartarus later." "This is so hard..." she says, back on the topic of nightshade. "Like I said before, you'll be okay," Karait said. A few more weeks pass. Finally, the time comes that she's fully recovered. "Thank you," she tells the doctors and her husband simultaneously. Karait smiles as he pays her medical bills, and takes her back home. As she crosses through the portal to go home, her coils return and rip the pants she was wearing. "Oops," she giggles. "Oh yeah, that's right; you don't need them in this dimension," Karait laughs. "It's good to be home." She suddenly smiles. "And it's about time I got see again." "Darn right," Karait says, and he and her slither back to their home. (I kinda feel like resuming the children TP.) (We're getting to that) She settles in, remembering the conversation about children she had with him before this all started. She didn't believe that Kaliya was gone, and so she was ready to determine it unsafe that she have kids until she was sure. All the same, she asks: "Karait...do you think we're safe from Kaliya and his followers now?" "Yes, I'm sure of it," Karait says. She asks a question that's obviously hard for her to ask. "Do you think I'm ready?" "Yes." "I'm so worried..." she says. "Alex, I'm sure you'll do fine," Karait answers. "Are you sure...that since I've been on miasma and nightshade, that the kids will be...well, normal?" "By all this point, all the miasma and nightshade in your system would be gone," he answers. "If you were still in that evil form or doing nightshade, there would be complications." "I'm just not sure that...that nothing like that will happen to me again..." A thought strikes her. "Karait, did Kaliya have followers here? Any that are still alive?" "I doubt he had any followers of this realm; everyone feared him, because they feared he would either kill them or take their feminine young. His demon followers were obligated to follow them, because he binded them with a curse, and after he died, they fled." She's not satisfied. "I don't think I'm ever going to catch a break. Kaliya probably had a million backup plans to hurt us..." Karait is very doubtful, since he is aware of the cowardice of Kaliya's followers. "It is true that we'll never be safe from everything, Alex, but Kaliya is gone, his followers have returned to running rampant in the Underworld, and the miasma pool is dried up. In fact, when last I looked, Kaliya's cave is gone; there was a cave in, and from what I heard, the only things that left there were Kaliya's harem girls, fleeing home to their families in terror." She's scared, almost irrationally. "It won't be over until he wants it to be..." she says. He'll find a way to hurt me...Think about it. Who could've possibly sewn that patch on me without me noticing?" "When you were sleepwalking before I fell out the window, you most likely did it yourself," Karait answers. "I caught you smuggling some when that happened." "Exactly. Me..." she says. "I'm scared that I'll do something like that again in my sleep..." "No you won't; I'll coil around you when we go to sleep, so when I feel you trying to get up, I'll wake up." "If my sleeping self really wants it, that won't stop me..." "Alex, listen. On the day we were married, that was the day I vowed to protect you with my life, and do whatever I could to help you. As such, I am going to make sure you don't get anymore." At this point, Karait is borderline from crying, as he is attempting to do everything in his power to help Alex, but he almost feels like she's resisting his help, as if though she doesn't want a thing to do with his support. "I'm sorry, Karait," she says remorsefully. "I'm just scared..." "I'm not angry," Karait says, regaining his composure. "And I understand why you are scared. You're afraid Kaliya will come back for you. But he won't; I promise." After a moment... "Do you want to have kids, Karait?" "Yes, I do." She takes a gulp. "Okay..." she says. Her face is filled with fear and worry, but she says all the same: "I'm ready..." "Oh, Alex..." says Karait, and he begins kissing her, and he coils around her. Approximately an hour later, she's pregnant. And now her worry shows more than ever. Karait is now waiting for her to begin laying eggs. Eventually, she does. Seven of them. Karait then puts blankets and pillows around them to make a little incubation chamber. "Now Alex, you have to coil around them so the incubation can take place." "Oh, I'm so nervous..." she says as she does. "Oh, you'll be fine. In fact, Indra will be bringing us food, and I'll be by your side to guard the children." "Thank you..." "You're welcome, my love." Karait then coils up next to Alex, and he kisses her right on the lips. She kisses back lovingly, then goes back to lying curled up around her soon to be children. Karait joins Alex by coiling up with her around the eggs, and sets his head down next to hers. "I love you," she says happily. "I love you too," he replies, just as happy. Over the next few days, she gets utterly bored just laying there, curled up around her eggs. Karait brings in the TV so Alex can watch it. (GTG BBL) She gets bored of it rather quickly too. She never really did like television. "I know it seems boring, but soon your maternal instincts will kick in," says Karait. Being rather uneducated in the topic of "maternal instincts", having not grown up with a mother, she asks, "How do those work?" "You will soon become protective of your children," he answers back. "Well, I figured that much," she says pretty sarcastically. "And I know you won't want to hear this, but this incubation process can take anywhere from 60-90 days," says Karait. "After the children hatch, your maternal instincts will awaken." "Oh, great," she says, actually a bit annoyed at this idea. Lying in one spot for three months? She has no clue how to bear that. "I know this is annoying and it's unlike anything you've ever had to do before in your life, but I'll be here for you, and Brahm and Indra have volunteered to help you." "I know..." she says, breathing a sigh and curling up, laying her head down. "I'm sorry." "You're okay," Karait says, "you're just not used to this business." She sighs. "I really care about my kids...this is just so boring..." "It'll be worth it once our children are born," Karait says, kissing his wife. "I know," she says, kissing back. Sixty days later, as Karait and Alex are sleeping, one of the eggs forms a crack, and the noise it makes wakes up Karait. "Eh?..." he says groggily. She's still asleep all the same as another egg decides to start cracking open too. "Awaken, Alex... the time has come..." She wakes slowly, still to groggy to understand what he's talking about. "What...? What time?" She rubs sleep from her eyes. "Look for yourself," says Karait, and the top of an eggshell then bursts off as it falls over onto the ground. As soon as she sees what's happening, she's immediately awake. "My babies!" she says proudly. The first one emerges, and it's eyes open, revealing slitted pupils. "Aww..." she leans down eye to eye with it with a smile. The second one cracks open too. She tries her best to pay equal attention to both by picking them both up. "Mama..." says one. One is a full naga, and one is half-naga, half-cat. She's, to be honest, fully surprised that they already know how to talk. The half-naga, half-cat is male, and the full naga is female. She hugs both of them lovingly. The other eggs begin hatching. Two of the eggs aren't hatching, but the rest hatch rather quickly, three little nagas popping their heads out. Karait smiles at the sight of his children. He goes over to two of the eggs and checks to see if they are duds. One is. The other appears to be a late hatcher, who's not ready to come out yet. "Seems one isn't ready to come out, and the other is a dud," Karait announces. "A dud?" she says sadly and distantly. "Poor thing..." A few tears come from her eyes. "These things happen," says Karait, who is also sad. She sighs. "At least these are still alive..." she says, picking up the three other little ones that came out too. As their genes would have it, all three are female, making the only male one the half-cat child. Karait taps the top of the late hatcher. It squirms, not ready to hatch. Karait then comes to see his children. Four females, full nagas. One male, half cat. Alex is holding them with all the love in the world. Karait is now a v?"ery proud father. "Karait," she says with a smile. "I can hardly believe it." Proud tears are in her eyes. "Me too," he answers, kissing her. "What are we going to name them?" she asks. "The male we'll name Surya, and the girls we'll name Shakti, Kali, Radha, and Sati." Surprised that he had such names right off the top of his head, she remarks, "How long have you been thinking about it?" "A little while," says Karait. "So you're sure, then?" she says. "Yes." "Then those shall be their names," she says. "Now the question is which child we want to be which." She smiles. "Well, line em up, and we'll see who's going to be who." She puts them down, the one who hatched first at one end, then down to the last hatcher. The second two girls won't stop being distracting, but the old and young ones are quiet. Karait goes down the line. "Kali, Radha, Sati, and Shatki." She picks all of her newborns up. "Shouldn't we get some food for them?" "For now they need to be breastfed one at a time." She holds out her hands to find the most eager child, which ends up being Radha. She starts breastfeeding her gently. "Six kids..." she says, hoping the last one won't be a dud either. She wraps her tail back around the incubation chamber of pillows for them. Karait monitors the last egg. Once Radha is done, she moves on to the next most eager, Sati. The egg seems a while off from hatching. Karait looks over at Alex, happy. Next? Kali. After her? Shatki. Final? Surya. Surya takes the longest time, being part cat and all. "Looks like they have all been fed," says Karait. They start slowly drifing off to sleep, finally leaving only Sati awake, and she absolutely refuses to show the slightest sign of sleep. Alex smiles. "I can't believe it..." she says. "I'm a mother..." Her eyes are filled with tears of joy. Then she happens to look at the dud egg and her tears of joy turn to tears of sadness. She picks it up and looks at it longingly. Karait, using the powers he used to see what Alex was dreaming at the hospital, looks into the egg. Amazingly, inside the egg, there's a very unhealthy looking but alive, runt of the litter naga. It seems as developed as it's going to get, and it isn't trying to break the walls of its egg prison. It just lies there. "It's a runt," says Karait. "I think I need to help it..." He then takes one claw, pushes it into the side of the egg, creating a small puncture. He then looks in through the puncture. It reacts, slowly, but it does, looking up slowly towards Karait's eye peering through the hole. Alex is worried sick for it immediately. Sati picks this opportune time to start crying, and so Alex is forced, painfully, to pull her eyes away from this thought-to-be-dud and cradle her daughter. "Hello little one," says Karait, "would you like to come out?" The little naga seems to nod. Weakly, but a nod nonetheless. Karait pulls down a section of the shell, making a hole big enough for it to crawl out of it. It tries with all its might, and collapses out the hole. Alex gasps. Karait picks it up, checking it's life force. The poor naga runt is barely alive. Alex already has tears of horror. "Karait..." she starts, but she can't form a coherent enough sentence to describe what she's feeling. Karait begins using some of his naga powers to help supply it with some life force. Eventually, life comes to it, though it's still incredibly weak. Alex's eyes are flooded with tears of fear. Karait brings the little child to Alex. She immediately starts feeding it, handing the still crying Sati over to her father. "He's barely able to get anything..." she says, realizing just how weak this child is. "He is the runt, my love..." says Karait. "He'll have some problems." (GTG) "It's not fair for him..." she says quietly. "I know," says Karait. "And that's why I'll look after him..." Karait begins cradling Sati in his arms, singing to it softly. He tries quietly to get milk. He's doing a horrible job of it. Alex tries to help, to little avail. "What are we going to name him?" "We shall name him... Pushan." Eventually, little Pushan gives up. He's had enough to sustain himself, but not the same amount as his brother and sisters. Karait takes Pushan, wraps him up in a blanket, and gives him back to Alex. He then comes to see the rest of his children. All the kids except Sati and Pushan are asleep, and Sati looks like she's about to fall asleep. Well, so does Pushan, but that could be because of his weakness. Karait very quietly and softly puts the children in the little nest of blankets and pillows he made for Alex to incubate. Alex keeps two pillows for the last egg that has not yet hatched, to continue to incubate it. (Is she trying to incubate the dud?) (No, the dud was Pushan. She's incubating the one child who wasn't ready to hatch yet.) Karait views what is inside the one that isn't ready to hatch yet. Inside this egg is a still-growing naga child, who just happens to not be caught up to the others. She's perfectly normal otherwise. "I think we know who the youngest is," says Karait. "She's still growing." "So two boys and five girls?" Alex asks sleepily. "Looks like it," he answers. She hugs her husband and kisses him on the cheek. "Can you believe it?" "Hardly," Karait says, kissing Alex right on the lips. Alex yawns after the kiss. "I'm so sleepy..." she says, putting her head down. "When are you going to have Indra and Brahm over to see the kids?" "Tomorrow." She smiles and falls asleep peacefully, her tail still making the incubation chamber for the last kid. The next day, Brahm and Indra arrive. Alex is still asleep, but that doesn't stop all the kids from being awake. Karait is half-asleep. "Hello?" asks Indra. He gets pounced on by the two most hyper kids, Radha and Sati. The rest, especially Pushan, are lying with their daddy, awake but not doing much. "Oof!" Indra says after getting tackled. Brahm, right behind him, begins laughing. "Eh, who's there?" asks Karait. The two rowdy little girls laugh, and Surya pokes his head up to watch. "Your brothers," Indra replies, sitting up with Radha and Sati in his arms. "Oh. Hey Alex, wake up. My brothers are here." She blinks sleep from her eyes. "Huh? I don't have any brothers..." she says groggily. "No no no," says Karait, chuckling a tad, "not your brothers; MY brothers." "Oh..." she says, waking up faster. "Hi guys. Did you see the kids?" They are looking over them. "They all look healthy," Brahm comments. He then notices Pushan. "A runt?" he asks. "Yes," says Karait. "But he's OURS. So be nice." Alex is hurt by Brahm's comment. "Brahm, what's your problem with my son?" "Nothing," says Brahm. "I was just noting he was one." "Brother, that comment was a little uncalled for," Indra pipes up. "And remember how our cousin Krishna's son was? He was a runt, but he's growing up very healthy. This child has as much as a chance as Krishna's." Alex looks away from Brahm rather angrily, then slithers away and locks herself in the bathroom. Every last one of her kids watches her slither off. "Mama?" asks Surya. Karait comes over to the bathroom door. "Alex? Dear?" he asks, knocking. Meanwhile, in the other room, Brahm is being verbally chastised by Indra. "He hates my kid just for being a runt!" comes her rather angry reply. "He doesn't hate Pushan. He was surprised we had a runt." Something shatters on the other side of the door. It sounds expensive. "Alex? What was that?" Karait asks, very worried she shattered the window and cut herself up. She cracks the door. As it turns out, that's exactly what she did. With her fist. Karait begins tending to her fist. Then they can hear the muffled voice of Indra yelling "...AND WE DIDN'T COME HERE JUST SO YOU COULD INSULT OUR BROTHER, SISTER-IN-LAW, AND NEPHEW!" and a dull thud. Alex ignores Karait and rushes in there, mainly surprised by the thud than anything else/ Brahm is on the floor, sitting up, and rubbing his head; Indra conked him on the head. "AND FURTHERMORE," Indra continues, "HOW WOULD YOU HAVE LIKED IT IF ME AND KARAIT CAME AND INSULTED YOUR KIDS?!" "You've made your point loud and clear," Brahm groans. The kids are watching. Some in amusement, some in terror. "It's okay, Brahm...I forgive you..." "Thank you, Alex... I meant no disrespect." Karait comes in, still trying to wrap a linen with medication in it around her hand. "Just don't call him that again," she says, offering Karait her hand to patch up. Karait proceeds to wrap up her hand and returns to the kids. Radha, Sati, and Surya slither up to their daddy gleefully. The rest remain laying there, either half asleep or weak. Karait opens his arms so his kids can come see him. Those three go right into his arms. The two other girls and Pushan just look over. A lone tear streams down Karait's face, as he's filled with happiness over being a father. Kali and Shatki, misinterpreting this as sadness, go into his arms too. Pushan tries for the same reason. He fails. Karait picks up Pushan, and holds all of his children in his arms. Pushan makes a content, weak smile as the rest of his siblings snuggle furiously. "Oh, my children..." Karait says. Alex goes back to incubating her last kid silently. Karait checks on the egg to see how far it is until hatching. It's close, but not ready to hatch yet. Karait them proceeds to set his kids down on the bed. They all fall asleep rather quickly this time. Realizing that his children will be running around the house, Karait reaches up to his shelf, takes the bottle that the Alex duplicates are in down, and locks it up in a safe. Alex goes to sleep too. Brahm and Indra leave, and Karait looks over his wife, children, and the final egg, smiling. Come the middle of the night, and the egg starts hatching. Karait, ever alert, awakens. Alex, ever not alert, sleeps. The egg hatches faster than any of the others, the female naga slithering out. "Tired of that egg?" Karait asks. The little child nods, Alex still asleep. "Well, come join your brothers and sisters," says Karait, picking her up and putting her with the rest of her siblings. Alex never even wakes up. The child looks around at her siblings, seemingly a bit confused, but nevertheless takes a rest with them. "Alex," whispers Karait, "we've got a newcomer." She just rolls over in her sleep as a response. Karait shakes her a little. "Our last child is born." She snaps awake and immediately goes to take a look. "See? She hatched"